A frequently expressed concern by inexperienced campers is how to prepare a satisfying evening meal under stormy conditions. I have found that adherence to the following steps invariably ensures that campers go to sleep sated and contented whatever the weather:
Author: Bryan Page 11 of 12
We have got used to a very high military and police presence in Italian cities. At every major historical site, government building and train station there is an array of personnel; at least two types of police officers standing around marked vehicles and, conspicuously toting semi-automatic rifles, regular soldiers positioned around strategically parked armoured land rovers.
When we arrived in Rome a couple of weeks ago we found this presence rather unsettling, commenting that if this was supposed to provide reassurance then it was having the opposite effect. Then came the attack in Westminster ………….
One of the joys of foreign travel is conversations with people from different cultures and perspectives – locals and other travellers. However, we were a bit apprehensive about inevitable Brexit discussions as we travelled down the Italian peninsular and made a decision to leave Rome before the EU 60 yr. anniversary celebrations (as much for our own mental health as anything).
A democratically elected leader of a 1st world country who came to power with no previous political experience having cobbled together a campaign team at short notice which then degenerated into infighting once in office.
I think I may have mentioned that I like docks, large expanses of water, cavernous sheds and warehouses, enormous machines carrying, lifting, pushing and pulling – and of course the focus of all this activity – the loading and un loading of big ships by a multitude of figures so small against everything else. Well it was in the 1950s.
To the honour of those patriots executed by
the Germans of the Third Reich
giving their lives for our liberty
July 15 1944
These are the words on a memorial to 9 Greek partisans executed by firing squad in the square of Chora, the hill top (and former main) town on Alonissos in the Northern Aegean. Consulting Wikipedia indicates that the wording on the memorial was changed in the 1980s to state that the perpetrators were German troops from a particular era – and, I like to think, makes clear that all Germans should not be held guilty by association. War is brutalising and I have often wondered how I would behave in such extreme and stressful circumstances.
‘These torturing hours of ascent seemed as though they could never end ……… the sun trampled overhead through sizzling and windless air. Feet became cannon-balls, loads turned to lead, hearts pounded, hands slipped on the handles of sticks and rivers of sweat streamed over burning faces and trickled into our mouths like brine. Why, we kept wondering, though too short of breath for talk, does one ever embark on these furious wrestling matches, these rib-cracking clinches with the sublime?’
Patrick Leigh Fermor, ‘Mani – Travels in the Southern Peloponnese’ (1958)
They say ‘ never go back’, but they also say ‘never say never!’ It’s hard to know what to do for the best sometimes and if you really want to grapple with the mixed messages in the genre that is our culture’s helpful sayings you can do no worse than Richard Hoggart ‘Uses of Literacy’ (1957) where the comedy of ‘too many cooks’ vs ‘many hands’ is explored in full.
Sue and I did go back – to the Sporades in the northern Aegean after 36 years, and in doing so felt that we were risking a fair bit as the previous trip had been huge for us – our first big holiday together and one which very much cemented our relationship. We both have very fond memories of the summer long adventure and of the islands – so would a return so many years later prove to be a huge disappointment and worse, would it contaminate our precious memories?
SMALLTON and HEDGE END EXAMINER
No fire without smoke, no spark left unhosed
FIRE BRIGADE BATTLE 30 FOOT FLAMES ON TOWN ALLOTMENTS
By Reginald E Porter, Chief Horticultural Correspondent
Pensioner under gardener Doug Trench is at the centre of another inflammatory controversy on the Town allotments following a bonfire that got out of control resulting in the destruction of a shed of timber and a hedge of blackthorn. The Town Fire Brigade were called to the scene last Tuesday evening as flames 30 foot high engulfed the end of Mr Trench’s allotment.
